Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people receive the national living wage in (a) Wales and (b) Newport East constituency.

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) estimates that 7.6% of employee jobs in Wales were paid up to 5p above (this is consistent with the Low Pay Commission’s approach) the National Living Wage rate in April 2016.

1. Employee jobs are defined as those held by employees and not the self-employed. Figures exclude employees whose pay for the survey pay period was affected by absence.
2. ASHE is based on a 1% sample of jobs taken from HM Revenue and Customs' Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. Consequently, individuals with more than one job may appear in the sample more than once. Activities of households as employers and extraterritorial organisations are excluded from this analysis.
3. Apprentices aged 25 and above in their second year are included.

We have not produced estimates for Newport East. However, ONS ASHE estimate that 10% of all employee jobs in Newport East Parliamentary Constituency were paid up to £7.20. This differs from BEIS’ analysis as it covers all employee jobs and not only those that attract the National Living Wage.

Further information on ONS figures are available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/placeofworkbyparliamentaryconstituencyashetable9